NEW RESOURCES

International Journalists’ Network: New tool tracks disinformation laws globally. “Amid the rise in disinformation today, journalists should look into legal measures adopted by countries around the world to combat it. Brazil’s Agência Lupa is helping reporters do just that, this month launching an interactive map showing national and supranational laws globally intended to legislate disinformation online. The tool, called LupaMundi, provides details about the legislation while helping users better understand the nature of the laws and how they could be used against journalists.”

Canada Newswire: Canada Black Music Archives (CBMA) Launches As The Definitive Digital Repository Of Black Canadian Musical Heritage (PRESS RELEASE). “The CBMA aims to fill a crucial gap in Canada’s historical narrative by providing a digital platform accessible to all, highlighting the remarkable contributions, stories, and legacies of Black musicians across various genres.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: YouTube now allows monetization on videos with breastfeeding nudity and ‘non-sexually graphic dancing’. “YouTube is updating its guidelines to allow new types of content to monetize adult content, including videos that display nudity while breastfeeding and non-sexually graphic dancing.”

Engadget: Bluesky hits 2 million users and will soon release a public web interface. “Bluesky hit 1 million users merely a couple of months ago, in September, which could mean that the platform has been sending out more invites recently. In its post announcing the milestone, the Bluesky team has also revealed that it’s launching a public web interface around the end of November. The interface will allow anybody, even those without an account, to view posts on the platform.”

How-To Geek: Old Nook eReaders Are Losing Book Store Access. “The book retailer Barnes & Noble has announced that it is ending support for the Nook Simple Touch (released in 2011), Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight (released in 2012), and the Nook GlowLight (released in 2013). The official end of support will come in April 2024, and in June 2024, the devices will lose the ability to register or sign in with a B&N account, and no new content can be purchased. However, downloaded books will continue to work, and PDF and ePub books can still be copied to the storage.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

BusinessWire: National Comedy Center to Preserve Don Rickles Archive (PRESS RELEASE). “The National Comedy Center, the United States’ official cultural institution dedicated to the art form of comedy, announced today that it will be preserving an archival collection from Don Rickles’ estate, showcasing the late comedy legend’s six-decade career. The collection spans from the 1950s to 2000s, chronicling a storied life in comedy through rare photographs, correspondence, creative papers, and wardrobe—all of which will be preserved at the National Comedy Center.”

Ars Technica: “Make It Real” AI prototype wows devs by turning drawings into working software. “On Wednesday, a collaborative whiteboard app maker called ‘tldraw’ made waves online by releasing a prototype of a feature called ‘Make it Real’ that lets users draw an image of software and bring it to life using AI. The feature uses OpenAI’s GPT-4V API to visually interpret a vector drawing into functioning Tailwind CSS and JavaScript web code that can replicate user interfaces or even create simple implementations of games like Breakout.”

Axios: What makes the X advertiser revolt different from other boycotts. “A slew of marquee advertisers suspended their advertising on X, formerly Twitter, Friday in response to a post by owner Elon Musk that endorsed an antisemitic post Wednesday. Why it matters: This is the closest X has come to a large-scale boycott since Musk purchased the platform more than a year ago.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: The Invisible War in Ukraine Being Fought Over Radio Waves. “Using electromagnetic waves to flummox and follow smarter weapons has become a critical part of the cat-and-mouse game between Ukraine and Russia. The United States, China and others have taken note.”

MoneyControl (India): MeitY to meet Meta, Google, other platforms and ‘brainstorm’ on deepfakes. “The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is set to meet social media platforms, including Meta and Google, in the next few days, and ‘brainstorm’ on how to mitigate the persistent issue of AI-generated deepfakes on such platforms. This comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the issue of this technology, and termed it as ‘problematic’.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Yale: Making Computing Sustainable, With Help from NSF Grant. “Working with Prof. Noa Zilberman from Oxford University, [Professor Robert] Soulé has received a grant jointly funded by the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and United States’ National Science Foundation (NSF) for work that aims to reduce the energy consumption of computing. Specifically, it sets its sights on computer networks, which consume an estimated one-and-a-half times the energy of all data centers, according to some reports.”

Daily Maverick (South Africa): My robbery nightmare in Nyanga, Cape Town, directed by Google Maps. “On Monday, 13 November, Daily Maverick published an article entitled ‘Google Maps will no longer direct visitors through Cape Town township after attacks on motorists’. On the same day, I messaged Google urging them not to send motorists to Muizenberg through Nyanga because, unbeknown to Daily Maverick, the ‘most recent’ attack wasn’t in October, but on 10 November. I know this because it happened to me.” Good morning, Internet…

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